Barbaro Update [View All]

Surgery commences for Barbaro

By Jay Privman
Daily Racing Form

Surgery for Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who was seriously injured in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico, began shortly after 12:30 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.

Barbaro was taken to New Bolton on Saturday night, hours after suffering multiple fractures in his right hind leg.

On Saturday, it was announced that Barbaro had a fracture to the cannon bone above the ankle, and to the long pastern bone below the ankle. But shortly before the surgery on Sunday, Dr. Dean Richardson, who was to perform the surgery at New Bolton, said there were additional, serious injuries.

Specifically, Richardson said Barbaro also had a fractured sesamoid bone, and that the right hind ankle was dislocated at the fetlock joint. Richardson said he expected the surgery to take more than three hours.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown06/news/story?id=2452872

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"You do not see this severe injury frequently because the fact is most horses that suffer this typically are put down on the race track," Richardson said. "This is rare."

"It's about as bad as it could be," he added. "The main thing going for the horse is a report that his skin was not broken at the time of injury. It's a testament to the care given to the team of doctors on the track and (jockey) Mr. Prado on the racetrack."

Richardson said Barbaro sustained a broken cannon bone above the ankle, a broken sesamoid bone behind the ankle and a broken long pastern bone below the ankle. The fetlock joint the ankle was dislocated.

"The aspects of the surgery will be dictated slightly by what we find," Richardson said. "But the bottom line is we will attempt to perform a fusion of that joint and to stabilize it and make it comfortable enough for him to walk on."

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=1987316

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Here's hoping that everything goes well for this great horse.